Bombay High Court Issues “John Doe” Order In HDFC Life Insurance Company Vs. Meta Platforms Inc. & ORS.

Introduction

In a recent judgment of the Hon’ble Bombay High Court dated 29th November, 2024, a Single Judge granted a temporary injunction in favor of HDFC Life Insurance Co. Ltd. (“Applicant”) against an unidentified Defendant who had allegedly attempted to extort money from the Applicant by threatening to leak sensitive consumer data. In light of the present issue, the Hon’ble Court has restrained the Defendant from using, copying, publishing, distributing or communicating such sensitive information or any such information which is not available publicly.

Courts’s Observation & Analysis

According to the Court, there was a prima facie evident case for the grant of a temporary injunction in form of an ad – interim relief since any unauthorized disclosure of sensitive data would be detrimental not only to the company but also to the consumers. Secondly, publication, sale, identity theft, financial frauds, privacy violations and unauthorized access of data would also open a pandora’s box of legal challenges including a gateway to financial crimes, identity theft, infringement of personal rights and privacy which could not even be compensated since the Defendant entity is unknown.

While delivering the present order, the Court also directed the Defendant to take necessary steps in order to forthwith delete, remove, block and disable accounts, content, domain names, contact numbers and email addresses associated with the accounts along with those details which might be used, copied, published, distributed, transmitted, communicated or otherwise be used to disclose any unauthorized confidential information which relates to the Applicant and file an affidavit of compliance in this context before the Hon’ble Court. Additionally, the Court has also directed the concerned governmental and regulatory agencies along with the Defendants to issue necessary instructions to the internet service providers, intermediaries, and other relevant authorities which shall regulate the information available with these accounts in order to carry out the complete due diligence and prevent the unknown entity from using such information in an illegal manner which may infringe the rights of various entities and individuals.

Conclusion And Way Forward

While laying down the present order granting ad – interim temporary injunction in favor of the Applicant, the Hon’ble Court reiterated that in order to secure the rights of individuals and entities even against those Defendants which are anonymous or cannot be discovered giving rise to “John Doe” litigations in India. According to the precedent laid down by this judgment, the restraint on the unidentified Defendant can also be exercised in order to prevent them from disseminating any confidential information which may lead to any misconduct or data breach or infringe digital rights. Therefore, the present judgment is a way forward towards laying down guidelines and taking affirmative steps in order to prevent anonymous digital cyber threats and extortions and ensure cyber safety and security across domains.